Suspension and Withdrawal
Purpose
The purpose of this procedure is to:
To define the mechanism of OEQ’s granting, refusing, maintaining, renewing, suspending, restoring or withdrawing certification or expanding or reducing the scope of certification
The following is the policy and procedure for granting, refusing, maintaining, renewing, suspending, restoring or withdrawing certification or expanding or reducing the scope of certification and the subsequent actions by OEQ.
Scope
Applicable to all the Management systems certified by OEQ
Definitions & Abbreviations
Top Management : Governing body of the organization made of MD & EC
MD : Managing Director
OEQ : OEQ Certification Pvt. Ltd.
CAR : Corrective Action request.
Procedure
Granting
OEQ shall grant the certification to Client only when the Certification Audit Report has to be submitted by the related Auditor and Verification of Clearance of Non-Conformities (either minor or major) & its Objective evidences submitted by the Client & technical review of the Audit Report.
Responsibility for the Granting of Certification is Technical Director.
Refusing
OEQ will refuse the application of Client in the following cases:
- Due to Unavailability of Competent Auditor
- If related scope not comes under the accreditation scope of certification
Responsibility of Refusing of Application is Technical Manager/Technical Director
Renewing
OEQ shall renew the certification of client according to the three-year certification cycle for verifying the performance of the Organization:
a) 1st Surveillance Audit – After 11 months from the date of Issuance of Initial Certification
b) 2nd Surveillance Audit – After 11 months from the date of Issuance of 1st Surveillance Certification
c) Re-Certification Audit- After 11 months from the date of issuance of 2nd Surveillance Certification
Responsibility of Renewing of Certification is Technical Manager/ Technical Director.
Suspending
OEQ shall suspend certification in cases when, for example, a client's certified management system has persistently or seriously failed to meet certification requirements, including requirements for the effectiveness of the management system, the certified client does not allow surveillance or recertification audits to be conducted at the required frequencies(Maximum 30 Days form the Due Date), the certified client does not make the payment for certification despite several reminders, or the certified client has voluntarily requested a suspension. OEQ’ s decision on suspending the certification shall be communicated to the client in writing.
Under suspension, the client's management system certification is temporarily invalid.
Restoring
OEQ shall restore the certification as per the following
- If the Client submits the Corrective action report within the 30 days of time period in case of minor non-conformity and 90 Days of time period in case of major non-conformity and also in case of major non-conformity there should be a provision of re-visit of auditor at client’s location for the verification of effectiveness of Closure of Non-Conformity. After Suspension there is 15 Days of time period for the renewing of certification after Verification of Effectiveness of System by the Auditor at the time of Re-Visit, Without Re-Visit no any certification will be restored.
Responsibility for Renewing of Client is Technical Manager
Withdrawing
OEQ shall restore the certification as per the following
- If the Client submits the Corrective action report within the 30 days of time period in case of minor non-conformity and 90 Days of time period in case of major non-conformity and also in case of major non-conformity there should be a provision of re-visit of auditor at client’s location for the verification of effectiveness of Closure of Non-Conformity. After Suspension there is 15 Days of time period for the renewing of certification after Verification of Effectiveness of System by the Auditor at the time of Re-Visit, Without Re-Visit no any certification will be restored.
OEQ shall restore the suspended certification if the issue that has resulted in the suspension has been resolved. Failure to resolve the issues that have resulted in the suspension in a time established by the OEQ shall result in withdrawal or reduction of the scope of certification.
NOTE : In most cases, the suspension would not exceed six months. OEQ’s decision on withdrawing certification shall be communicated to the client, in writing, through letters
OEQ has enforceable arrangements with the certified client concerning conditions of withdrawal ensuring upon notice of withdrawal of certification that the client discontinues its use of all advertising matter that contains any reference to a certified status.
Reducing
OEQ shall reduce the client's scope of certification to exclude the parts not meeting the requirements, when the client has persistently or seriously failed to meet the certification requirements of those parts of the scope of certification. Any such reduction shall be in line with the requirements of the standard used for certification. OEQ’s decision on reducing the scope of certification shall be communicated to the client, in writing, through letter.
Upon request by any party, OEQ shall correctly state the status of certification of a client's management system as being suspended, withdrawn or reduced.
The responsibility and authority to execute this procedure lie with the Technical Director, who is also the final authority for granting certification.
Expanding
OEQ shall expand the scope of certification only after the Re-Visit of the Auditor at Client’s Location for the Compliance Verification of extended scope of certification. OEQ’s decision on expanding the scope of certification shall be communicated to the client, in writing, through letter and also there is a provision of issuance of another certification with expanded scope of certification.
The Responsibility of expanding the scope of certification is Technical Manager/ Technical Director.